


Safe Delivery

by Aysu



Series: EBF Collection [6]
Category: Epic Battle Fantasy (Matt Roszak Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anna is a badass, Anna is pretty much an assassin in this, Anna-centric, Betrayals, Blood, Drama, Fainting, I don't know, Lance Worries (TM), Language, Violence, and a one woman assault force, bows are greater than guns in my EBF world, but they need to work on communication, i just wanted to write a train jacking, i should probably tag properly, no relationships - Freeform, people get shot guys, some kind of war is going on?, the team is an effective force, unless Lance is the gunman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aysu/pseuds/Aysu
Summary: Lance tasks Anna with getting a train full of civilians to safety.
Series: EBF Collection [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015827
Kudos: 9





	Safe Delivery

Anna had just emerged from the shower, and was still wrapped in a towel when two firm knocks came to her door. She raised a brow, glanced down at herself, then shrugged with a sigh as she moved to see who was calling. It was late, which meant whoever was there had something important they needed to tell her. She swung the door open to see Lance. The gunner glanced her up and down with a raised brow and a hint of an appreciative smirk before he nodded past her. 

"It's a little late for your harassment," Anna dryly noted, ignoring his stare as she gathered some loose clothes and retreated for the bathroom. 

Out of her sight, his smirk briefly widened before fading into a seriousness that reflected in his tone. "I need you to head out with the refugee train leaving at dawn." 

Anna froze in the process of pulling on her shirt, and hurriedly yanked it down, backwards, to burst out of the bathroom. "What the fuck, Lance? I think I’ve more than proven that I’m not some child who needs protecting from the enemy! Hell, I've got more years of experience in the field than  any of you!" 

Lance raised both hand placatingly, but glanced briefly towards the door. "Quiet down, it’s not like that," he ordered sharply. "I’m worried about the safety of the civilians on the train." 

Mollified, Anna seemed to deflate, but her brows furrowed. "Why? It's just a bunch of domestic workers and children, right?" 

"Exactly," Lance confirmed seriously. "There's only a skeleton of older guards being sent with them, more for show than anything else, and if they run into trouble, they’ll all be killed. Ideally, I’d send Natz, because her magic could cover the entire train with ease, but Matt would never let her go at this point, and realistically, we need her here more. Their spies will get suspicious if she's suddenly absent from the medical tents, and they may realize where she is and stage an assassination or kidnapping." 

"But I’ve been out of sight, scouting and running silent strikes," Anna murmured, following his train of thought. "No one would think anything of it if I was suddenly absent again—or at least, they’d never suspect I was headed in the opposite direction." 

Lance nodded once, his eyes dark and serious. "Ideally, nothing will happen, and you’ll come right back in whatever way is fastest. But these guys... they’ve been a lot uglier, crueler, and vicious than I think anyone expected; we can’t put it past them to target children in an effort to demoralize us. If the worst comes to pass, and something  does happen to the transport, you'd be an ugly surprise for them. Furthermore, I can’t think of anyone I’d trust more to successfully transport as many non-combatants to safety as possible. You’re the only one on the team with such strong connections to, and understanding of people who work hard for their livings. And you’re the only one who has the perfect balance of strength and magic solely from yourself and your surroundings. I’m not expecting luxury for them, just survival." 

Anna watched as Lance hesitated before he uneasily shifted—almost regretfully, she thought. He took in a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh, and dropped the bomb she knew had to be coming. 

"Honestly, I would give a lot to keep you here, doing what you’ve been doing. This is going to be really dangerous and high risk if I’m right about the threat. Furthermore, we won’t be able to come back you up if things get beyond your control," he informed her quietly. "I'm needed to continue to strategize this campaign, and I can’t spare either Matt's or Natalie's skills and talents. But I- You're more... expendable... than the rest of us. Make no mistake: your efforts are, and will continue to let us win this war faster, and with less bloodshed and a lower body count, but they aren’t necessary." 

Anna swallowed heavily from nerves, but forced a smile. "I understand, Lance, and I agree. Matt and Natalie need to keep breaking the enemy; Natalie is also needed to heal the wounded survivors. And the campaign would have ended in failure months ago without your intellect and cunning. I’ve always been the extra piece that made the team more efficient when it was already good enough. You need to make decisions without letting your personal feelings interfere, and I trust that you weighed all the options before deciding on this. I trust  you , and I won't let you down. I'll be back in perfect health, I promise." 

For the briefest of moments, Lance's expression twisted into something distraught before he stepped forwards to pull Anna into an abrupt, tight embrace. "I’m going to hold you to that," he told her shakily. "You’re one of my best friends, and I'll be really fucking mad if you die where I can’t even mock you for being weak." 

Anna returned his hug just as tightly. "I wouldn't dream of depriving you of your favorite pastime," she teased past the lump in her throat. She pulled back shortly after he let go, and rubbed her eyes to clear away the tears burning in them. When she lowered her hands, her expression was serious, and her jaw set with determination. "I’ll get my gear together, and will be on that train when it leaves. If we don’t reach the station, you'll know your paranoia was spot-on once again, and I trust you'll handle the fallout on this end while I make the best of the shit on mine. I'll send word as soon as I’m able, one way or another." 

Lance cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets to hide their shaking. "...Give 'em hell. And fix your shirt before you leave, you look ridiculous." 

Anna glanced down, realizing for the first time that her shirt was still on backwards—and inside out—and stuck her tongue out at Lance as he turned to leave her to get as much rest as she could. He hesitated in the doorway and glanced back to meet her eyes one last time before smirking in response to her grin, then shut the door. 

Sleep was long in coming for both of them, and filled with restless turning. When morning finally dawned watery and gray, Anna and the train were well on their way to safer lands. The ranger had once again dyed her hair a much less conspicuous brown, and wore clothing similar to those around her. Gripped in her hand was a sackcloth rucksack filled with a couple of pieces of spare clothing, a bit of dried food, and a few 'mementos,' all intended to fulfill the image of being simply one of dozens of young women fleeing the war to stay with family or friends in the country. She had been shuffled past the harried inspectors without a second glance, and now stood in the packed huddle of bodies, strategically positioned by the rear door of the car. 

They'd been on their way for almost two hours now, having left in the dark hours before dawn, and the sun remained hidden behind dark clouds and intermittent showers. Anna studied the soggy terrain flashing past, mentally calculating the distance they were covering, and how best to evacuate the passengers in the event of an attack. With only fifteen guards stationed two to a car, and one with the engine, it would be difficult to maintain order in a panic. With any luck, an attack would leave the train merely blocked, and not destroyed, and she would be able to fend off the enemy without the need for a full evacuation. If the train was damaged beyond repair, she would have to somehow manage the daunting task of maneuvering over a hundred people from a city through the wilderness. 

"Gods, I really hope it doesn’t come to that," Anna muttered under her breath. 

Her words were easily covered by the drone of tense conversations from the other passengers as they tried to lift their spirits. Flashes of voices floated around her, sharing speculation that the war wouldn’t last much longer at all, and that surely the fighting wouldn’t actually reach the city? Every now and then, a child whined or wailed, but were hushed as quickly as possible. The general mood was calm, but with a nervous undercurrent that betrayed the truth all of them were refusing to state: none of them would be fleeing if they truly believed their hopeful lies. 

Anna kept half an ear on the flow of the conversations while flipping the collar of her shirt to try and get a bit of a breeze. The air was humid and stuffy from all the people, and she couldn’t wait to be done with this task. She wouldn’t even  think a complaint the next time she was forced to spend a wet night in a tree to avoid detection. At least in a tree, she could breathe and stretch. And trees didn’t fart. Or repeatedly elbow her side with every sway of motion. Or step on her toes. 

She was just about to elbow an annoying man back, when the brakes screeched, and everyone was thrown towards the front of car. People screamed as they fell from their seats, and over top one another. Luggage fell and burst open to send their contents spilling everywhere. Alarmed shouts and questions began to rise up. The tortured wail of the train's brakes drowned out the chaos of the car, and they gradually lost speed. 

Anna barely caught the handrail by the emergency door, and managed to maintain her feet while her eyes snapped to the windows on far side of the car. She grit her teeth and didn’t even look at the other passengers as she slammed the emergency handle down and forced the door open. Lance had been right again, and now it was time to make sure he'd been just as right to send her. 

Cold, wet rain water sloshed over the lip from next car down, but beyond a reflexive shudder and a sharp inhale, Anna ignored it in favor of slamming the door shut and flipping herself onto the roof. The cars were still moving quite quickly, and she inwardly hoped that whatever obstruction the conductors had seen had still been far enough away that they would avoid actually colliding with it. There would be no saving herself from being thrown from the roof in the event of an actual crash, and she wasn’t sure how much damage a train could take before being unable to function; she wished she had asked Lance the night before. 

Up above, rain and wind pelted the ranger, trying to blind her and upset her balance, but a lifetime of climbing trees during storms made this seem like child’s play. She spread her feet in a wide stance, her boots finding plenty of purchase in the corrugated metal, and brought one arm up to shield her face, while the other dug into the pocket on her pants that she'd stitched her adventure pouch to. Bow now in hand, she squinted through the stinging rain, trying to see the enemy. The wind rushed past, whipping her hair behind her, and destroying any hope of hearing anything. There was nothing to either side of the train, nor past the final car behind her own; whatever had caused the breaks to be thrown was towards the front. 

Bent low, Anna began sprinting for the engine, teeth bared and body fighting the wind trying to force her back. The first gap between cars came up, and she flew across it with ease, landing nimbly on the next roof, and kept going. She could feel the train still losing speed, and the further she got, the less powerful the wind became. The third car was just as easy to cross, but her landing on the fourth car led to near disaster when her foot finally slipped and sent her tumbling towards the edge. Only a sudden jerk from the train rocking in the opposite direction saved her, and her heart pounded at the near miss. 

Finally, she reached the front, perched on the engine as it slowed to a stop, to see nothing blocking their way. For a brief moment, she stared at the clear track and the empty canyon ahead before her heart sank when the truth hit her. The enemy had been on board all along, or leaped on at some point after leaving the station, and there was no way they had missed her footsteps pounding away above their heads on her mad dash for the front of the train. 

Cursing herself for making such an oversight, she turned her mana and attention back to the cars she'd passed. Clearly, there had to be at least one enemy manning the engine, and she would hedge a safe bet at perhaps five armed men per car. She would retake the engine first, and work her way back. Once the train was secured, she could work out what to do about getting the engine moving again. 

With a final dark glance at the clear track, she turned to begin her operation, then froze. She whipped back forwards again, this time desperately trying to scan the canyon walls, searching the scrub brush and stubborn, scraggly trees clinging to the rocks. Where was the back up to capture the civilians? Even five armed men could lose to an entire car full of desperate, terrified people. There was no way for backup to board the train in this canyon, not with two thirds of the train already down it, and there had been no transports waiting at the mouth. That meant one thing, and one thing only. 

" _ Shi _ _t_ , fuck, damn, " Anna swore, twisting with new haste. 

She dropped down and burst into the engine control room to see a bloody corpse slumped over the seat, hand still clamped around the emergency phone. Anna pushed herself to ignore the body, and slammed a hand down on the alarm, setting off a wail telling the passengers to evacuate, and opening all the emergency doors. That done, she sprinted across the narrow gap, and shoulder-barged her way into the next car where two arrows found their home in the throats of a pair of pale-faced men pointing one rifle her way, and another at the crowd of terrified passengers. 

They were the guards sent to guard the train, and Anna let out another string of colorful curses. 

"Everybody, leave everything, and head out the side doors! Make your way to the back of the train!  Now! " Anna bellowed, but she didn’t wait to see if they would listen, already heading for the next car. 

Two more guards fell with similar ease under her arrows in the next car, and passengers began moving even as she shouted for them to get out. In the third car, one of the guards was down and injured, being held up by a pair of frightened passengers. The second fired at Anna before the door even opened, and a bullet grazed her shoulder before a slice of air returned the favor across his throat. She spared a brief glance at the wounded guard, and in the part of her mind not driven by adrenaline and fear, lamented not being able to stop and heal him. She hoped the passengers would carry him off. 

It wasn’t until the last car, and having accumulated three more non-lethal injuries, that Anna found the guy holding a remote detonator. She could only assume he had to have been in an argument over pushing it or not, because there was no reason to not have set it off yet, or for the two guards to be pointing their guns at each other. Not giving him a chance to reflexively trigger whatever explosions were laid, Anna shot him first in the wrist, nearly severing his hand, and then once in the throat. The second guard yelped something about watching where it fell while snatching for the device. 

Ironically, it was his desperation to try and keep the device from falling on the button that triggered it. The guard, with the best of intentions, made a ham-fisted grab for the detonator, and managed to snag it between his fingers and his palm, pressing the button. The click sounded over-loud to Anna’s ears, and she had the briefest insane urge to laugh even as she fell to her knees to press her hands to the floor. 

Mana surged forth, split seconds ahead of the sudden gout of flames above their heads. The train shook and ears rang from the forces of the blasts. Unheard and unnoticed in the panic and screaming, Anna retched out a mouthful of blood from the sudden, forceful, not-at-all-prepared-for spell. Outside the cars, the cliff walls trembled from a second force. Massive roots with smaller tendrils snaked out, rapidly weaving to form a net above the train and the people already evacuating. Only the finest of grit fell through the weaving, though the wood creaked and sagged under the immense weight of the fallen boulders. Those outside stared up in awe at what seemed to be divine interference on behalf of their lives, while those inside clung to one another waiting for the end only to realize it hadn’t come. 

Anna shook like a leaf in a windstorm, blood dripping from her chin, brown dye leaking from her hair to streak her face and clothing, and her vision growing hazy. She peeled her bloody lips apart to try and tell everyone that to be safe, they should all still get off the train and exit the canyon. The words never came, and she collapsed to the floor, eyes rolling back before closing. 

OOOOOO 

Muffled voices filtered into the uneasy blackness, and Anna rolled her head to the side before peeling her eyes open. Dim light filtered through an oiled canvas cover, and she slowly blinked at it before trailing her eyes to the worst attempt at a tent support she thought she'd ever seen. Lance knew better than to not lock the arms of a canvas tent together before pulling it up—she knew he did because she'd taught him. Even if he didn’t, Matt and Natalie surely should have known better and stopped him. 

It wasn’t until she attempted to push herself to sit up and felt an agonizing jolt race through her chest that she remembered that Matt, Natalie, and Lance weren’t there, and remembered what had happened. Someone must have been waiting outside the tent, because her wheezing gasp brought a face peering through. The man checking on her broke into a relieved smile before he pulled back to call to others that she had woken. Cheers rose up followed by a stampede of footsteps and a few voices trying to maintain order. 

Fearing being trampled by her new admirers, Anna gathered herself to roll upright and crawl out of the tent on shaking limbs. The movement was just as agonizing as the first attempt, only this time it was joined by a bone deep weakness, a roiling nausea, and a splitting migraine. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this bad before. Still, she startled badly when hands caught her mid-collapse followed by a gruff voice with all the qualities of a veteran soldier telling her she should stay resting. 

Anna ignored this, in her humble opinion, frankly ridiculous advice, and waved a shaking hand. "How many were injured?" she rasped, and was alarmed at the weakness of her voice. She could barely hear herself speaking, and couldn’t stop her eyelids from beginning to droop. 

Luckily, the man had heard her, and responded, "Besides you? Just Sergeant Greene from the third car, and a young boy with a scraped arm from a ricocheted shot; their injuries are nothing compared to yours. What you did with your magic did a hell of a number on you. Luckily, there were a couple healers on board who were able to stabilize you. Still, you're suffering from the worst case of mana exhaustion and overextension I’ve ever seen in my thirty years of service." 

Anna's lips twitched with what might have been a grin if she’d had the energy. "A friend would say I never did do anything stupid by halves." Her eyes had shut and it took a few seconds to get her mouth to ask, "Are we... safe?" 

Safe didn’t cover nearly all the details she needed to know, but she was too exhausted to list them all. She wanted to know if everyone had shelter, if they’d been able to retrieve anything useful from the train, if anyone had gathered the food up to ration if the train couldn’t be moved, if the guard who had been on their side and shot for it had survived... There was more, but she didn’t manage to remain awake even through the answer of what she had managed to ask. 

It felt like the blink of an eye when she woke up again, but in reality two more days had passed, and she'd been moved back into a train car. Anna frowned in dismay at the length of time they’d lost, and frowned deeper when she learned that though the two surviving guards who were loyal were trying their best, nobody had thought to do... anything. Nobody had any significant survival skills, so there was no new food coming in, no one had thought to try getting the train moving again, at least far enough to be out from under her protective net—something she was certain would fail if another rainstorm came through—and people were arguing over who should be allowed to eat what, with the children and lone women coming out worse off. All that had really been accomplished was that one of the guards, the uninjured one, had managed to find some drums in time to catch some rain water for drinking, and the other one had located the emergency rations and taken stock before sealing the car up again. Both had been taking turns keeping a loose watch each night. 

Despite still feeling like a rung out dishcloth, and even the slightest mana use feeling like fire through her body, Anna decided enough was enough, and dragged herself into attempting to form some kind of command. It was ridiculous to her that with a transport of over one hundred adults, none of them had bothered to be useful. It almost made her agree with Lance that robots were superior. 

First on her agenda was putting a stop to the asinine sentiment that if people hadn’t thought to bring food, they deserved to starve. Enough rumors had spread about who, or what, she was that it was easy enough to glower everyone into handing over everything they had for her to dole out appropriately. Apparently, she’d become enough of a legend that the fact that she looked like a ghost and had easily lost ten pounds in a matter of days didn’t encourage anyone to argue with her. Stories were already circulating that she was actually some sort of divine figure, or amusingly on point, that she was one of the near-mythical team members. She didn’t confirm their speculations one way or the other. In the event that they were captured, the less anyone actually knew about who she was, the safer they all would be. 

Second on her agenda was to locate anyone and everyone who might be able to conduct the train. The two men she'd found with some knowledge of engineering and trains had reported back that everything seemed in order, and should be safe to move, with a starting push, but that the emergency contact system had been destroyed, which shut down any hope she’d been nursing of calling for aid, or at least alerting Lance that she was still alive. Of course, she knew he would have already checked with the station they were due to arrive at, and drawn conclusions when they missed their arrival a day ago. She hoped he would hold out for a few days for her to pull through, without spiraling into one of the depressive funks she'd seen him do in the past when he thought his orders had gotten one of the team injured. Realistically, she knew he likely had already skipped all meals since the missed arrival, and banished any semblance of sleeping. She could only trust that Natalie and Matt would corner him when they noticed. 

Third on her agenda was taking a moment towards the evening to take stock of her own injuries. The bullet grazings had been treated while she had been unconscious, and were well on their way to healing. Her chest no longer throbbed with each breath or shift, which was an improvement. Her favorite civilian outfit had been irreparably stained from blood, and when the dye had run out of her hair. In hindsight, she mused that she should have known that would happen when she didn’t let the coloring set. The rucksack of spare shirts she'd brought had vanished in the chaos of the attack, forcing her to give up any semblance of blending in, and she donned some of her battle gear. Not that her outfit mattered since her hair was now mostly back to its vibrant emerald, though a few streaks of brown stubbornly remained. Frankly, she thought when she studied her reflection in a hand mirror borrowed from one of the passengers, it was a neat look, and she filed the idea away to try on purpose at a later, safer date. 

The most concerning issue—and the one she knew Natalie would decapitate her for once she found out—was that she'd definitely burned her mana paths. The most she could manage without pain was sensing for magic; even attempting the most basic of spells resulted in a fiery warning under her skin. It had been a risky and expensive gamble to try and form a shield using the ill-suited plants of the cliff face, through the metal of the train, and without direct line of sight, but the situation had been desperate. And as she thought thought back to the many heartfelt thanks she'd received that day, she couldn’t regret the cost. With any luck, it would be a temporary debilitation, or at least something Natalie could fix, and she adamantly refused to think about what would happen if it was permanent. 

Anna blew her bangs from her face with a sigh, and handed the mirror back with a distracted thanks. It was time to get the train moving and the civilians to safety. The two men she'd left in charge of the engine should have gotten everything ready by now, which meant all that was left was getting the first push for the wheels to turn. 

Ten minutes later saw Anna directing two industrial workers armed with strange, metal, rod-like things to lever the wheels into motion. It was a fascinating bit of work that such simple devices could allow a pair of men to move such a large and heavy object, and she idly filed the thought away to ask Lance about at a later date. Then the train was grumbling and rattling into motion, and she and the men scrambled onto the cars as they gained speed, swiftly leaving the partially collapsed canyon behind. Anna watched the attempted blockade until they rounded out of sight, and made another mental note to Lance that it would need to be removed or the track would be useless. She gave her net a generous estimate of maybe two more days supporting the immense weight before it collapsed. Given that estimation, she knew she would need a different method of transport back. 

"Problems for later," Anna sighed to herself as she finally stepped into the supply car. 

She spared a brief glance to the two guards and two women she'd left in charge of the daunting task of dolling out the gathered food into equal portions for the passengers. There would be some grumbling about the reduced amounts of food compared to what had been taken, but she didn’t care. Truly, it was incredibly lucky that they had the train still functional and wouldn’t need to live off the land. Lance might have had faith in her abilities to feed a small community of people, but she had no such illusions that if the entire trip had been made on foot, next to none of them would be getting a sufficient amount of food. 

Leaving the four to work, Anna made her way through the cars, nodding to a few more expressions of gratitude, and ignoring any questions about who she was. Her journey ended at the engine where the two men were sharing questionable jokes as they worked to keep the train running, even though they'd just been introduced that morning. With a faint smile, she hoped they kept in contact to be friends, and ducked out in favor of climbing out on the side of the engine to keep watch. They weren’t at safety yet, after all, so her job wasn’t done, though she suspected there wouldn’t be any more trouble given that no enemies had come to check on their handiwork in the days they’d been laid up in the canyon. 

A day and a half later saw the engine clumsily jerking to a halt at the station to a cheering crowd of ecstatic civilians who had firmly believed the train and all of its passengers had been casualties. Anna donned a hood and slipped out of the station in the celebration before anyone could bring attention to her. By the time anyone thought to reward her or thank her in person, she had already purchased a horse and begun her lone journey back to the front. 

It was with careful consideration that she chose not to check in at the outpost, or to send a message ahead to the others. The fact that the guards Lance had sent with the train had been so thoroughly compromised was deeply concerning, and she didn’t know how far the corruption might have gone. It was possible that the men had simply been replaced with enemy soldiers, but she couldn’t be sure and so erred on the side of caution. Likely, her next task wouldn’t be another assassination or escort, but a swift and silent investigation into their own officers, followed by equally swift and silent retribution for any traitors. Hopefully, things hadn’t gone too sour in the weeks she'd been gone—Lance had been predicting victory by the end of the year. 

"It'll be weird going back to normal monster hunting," Anna mused to herself nearly a week later. Her words caused her mount to toss its head, and she idly stroked the horse's neck, but kept her eyes fixed on the approaching compound. "Still, I'm looking forward to it. People are more difficult to hunt, but not nearly as interesting, and the pay isn’t nearly as good. Well, maybe, anyway. I suppose assassins actually probably get paid a bunch, huh?" 

The horse snorted, and Anna had to agree. Assassinations might have a strategic place, but profiting off them was pretty wrong. A quiet and dark part of her pointed out that it might not be a bad idea to keep up the skills, though, just in case. Some people were too far above any kind of morals or laws to trust they’d meet the justice they'd earned. She shook the thought back to the darkest recesses of her mind as she came up to the first checkpoint. 

"Anna, scout, reporting in," she tiredly informed the shocked sentries. "I'm a little behind schedule, I know." 

"Ma'am! It's good to see you again! Head on through!" 

Anna nodded to the salutes, barely withholding her sigh. Nineteen months, and they still hadn’t figured out she wasn’t above their rank. She was pretty sure mercenaries didn’t fall into any rank. Or maybe they did. She'd ask Lance. 

The next two checkpoints were similarly painless, and it was with a groan of relief when she finally slid off her horse. She gave the equally tired beast a final pat before handing it off to a stablehand. It had been a good and faithful companion for her trip, and had certainly saved her several days of traveling. Normally, she would have made the trip on foot to stay out of sight, regardless of the time cost, but her mana was still touchy, and she hadn’t wanted to remain vulnerable any longer than necessary. 

Perhaps a trip to see Natalie in the medical ward would be a wise idea. Anna hovered at the intersection of halls leading to her room—and its hot shower and warm sheets—before giving a grumpy sigh. Lance would need to see her for the report and for his peace of mind. Maybe being covered in a thin layer of mud and sweat, and looking like she'd slept sometime last decade would let her get out of having to write up everything for him to pour over, at least until she'd gotten a nap. 

Despite her uncharitable thoughts, her pace actually picked up at the thought of seeing her friend, and basking in his relief at seeing her well. Sore muscles, aching mana paths, hot showers, and warm beds could certainly wait until after that. 

Anna reached the door to the conference room Lance all but slept in, but paused outside when she saw it was closed. Lance left it cracked open as a silent signal to let her and the others know he was free, and the fact that it was closed meant he was meeting with someone. She'd just settled against the wall to doze while she waited when a loud crash came from within. Anna's eyes flew open and she leapt to her feet, bow in hand, to slam through the door. Inside, she froze with both brows flying up at the sight of Matt holding Lance against the wall by his throat, and Natalie standing not far away looking furious with a bloodshot glare. Three set of eyes snapped to her, and she belatedly lowered her bow and arrow. 

"Uh... bad time?" she tried with a nervous grin. 

Matt's jaw dropped, and he let Lance slump from his grasp. "A-Anna?" 

"You’re alive!" Natalie exclaimed at the same time. The mage threw herself forward to embrace the smaller woman before jerking back to hold her at arms length. "Are you hurt? What happened? We heard- Oh, gods, it’s so good to see you!" 

"It’s great to see you, too. And fortunately I’m still alive and kicking, and mostly okay," Anna replied with a warm if tired grin. "I will need your help after I’ve had a shower. I just thought I'd come report in, and apparently just in time, too. Matt, whatever he did, you can’t cap our strategist before we win." 

Anna ducked away from Natalie to go help Lance up. He accepted her grip almost absentmindedly, staring at her with undisguised relief. She offered him a brief smile before standing back at faux attention like she knew he hated. "I’m sure you’re already aware, sir, but the civilians have safely reached Stone Orchard with only one friendly casualty and three injured. As you suspected, we were attacked  en route ." 

Lance's lips twitched and he let out a snort before swatting her hand down from its salute. "Knock it off, twit. I don’t care about that right now." 

Anna grinned before moving to slump into a chair with a long sigh and leaning forwards with a serious scowl. "You should care. Our own men were the attackers. Thirteen of the fifteen guards turned on the passengers to keep them from evacuating, and charges were laid along the Sunder Gorge. It was a near thing keeping the stone from burying us. The conductor was shot in the control room, and one of the guards still on our side was shot non-fatally. Last I saw, the roots I used were holding, but I doubt that’s still the case. The east-west rail is pretty much certainly blocked by now, which I’m sure was part of the goal." 

Lance's eyes flickered to where Matt and Natalie were back to scowling at him. "That's... really disturbing to hear. We'll have to look into that right away. But I’m glad to hear you were so successful. Thanks, Anna. I knew I could count on you. Were you one of the other injuries?" 

Anna quirked a tired half smile. "Eh, it wasn’t anything serious. I got grazed by a couple of bullets, but those are all healed up now." 

"But you still need Natalie, so something went seriously wrong," Lance noted quietly. He winced at the increase in intensity of Natalie's glare at him. 

Anna winced for a similar reason. "It, uh, it can definitely wait until after a shower. I can at least shower and take a nap before she kills me, right? As a last wish?" 

Natalie snorted, already moving forward and drawing up her mana. "Nice try, but no. What's wrong?" 

Anna held out for a moment longer under Natalie's stare before slumping and looking to the side. "...I burned my mana paths summoning the plants." 

"You did  what ?" Natalie and Lance snapped at the same time. 

"Oo, stereo," Anna joked with a nervous laugh. She glanced to the side for help from Matt, only to find him staring at her in dismay. A cold anxiety began to well up and her voice fell as she asked, "Is it permanent? I mean, it's been getting better since it happened. I just figured..." 

Natalie relaxed slightly at that information, and stretched out to rest her hands on Anna's back, already glowing with healing magic. "No, you should recover if it's already improving. You'd know if it was a complete burnout. Did you have any periods of unconsciousness? Blood vessels rupturing? Dizzy spells since?" 

"Yes, yes, and no. I passed out for a day at the moment of casting, and I was told there was blood all down my front. My chest hurt a lot when I first woke up, but I wasn't awake for long, and the pain was already practically non-existent when I woke again two days later." Anna leaned into the soothing magic, but shut her eyes at the distressed noise Lance let out and the chiding tut Natalie gave, and defensively added, "I didn’t have a choice. It was that, or somebody digging our bodies out a year from now." 

"You should have had someone with you to help cover that many people," Matt pointed out in an unnaturally cold voice. "Lance, you nearly crippled Anna. Hell, you almost got her killed! Why the fuck did you not even tell us where she was headed and what she was doing?!" 

Anna opened her eyes and turned to fix Matt with a cool stare. "It was my choice to go, Matt, and I don’t need you making my decisions for me, team leader or not. Lance laid out the risks and the reasonings, and I agreed with him. You three can’t be spared from the front at such a critical time for something we couldn’t be sure was going to be a threat. Anything that happened to me was a result of my choices and the enemies' actions, not Lance's. I was capable and successful, and I do not blame Lance for my being out in such a dangerous situation." She turned her eyes on Lance and her stare softened some. "Hear that, bastard? It's not your fault and I don’t blame you, so I better not catch you awake at four in the morning pouring over strategies. Everything worked out, anyway." 

Lance wouldn't meet her eyes, and his voice was flat as he said, "It wasn’t a real choice. You and I both knew I couldn’t and wouldn’t spare backup for you, and we both knew you’d have gone to save innocent lives even if you knew it was going to be a suicide mission. I used my innate knowledge of your personality and skills to get you to take on a dangerous task, and you nearly suffered permanent, crippling injury because of it." 

"Lance, if you think I’m going to throw myself into my grave to save a hundred people when staying alive would let me save a thousand more, then you don’t know me very well," Anna refuted shortly, eyes flashing. Her glare moved back to Matt, and included Natalie, who actually flinched back a bit before returning to her healing. "And you two should be ashamed of yourselves for whatever you said to Lance once you heard about what happened. He's a commander of a war, and he made the right call, and both of you know it. And frankly, I’m kind of pissed that all three of you were so quick to write me off." 

"He still should have told us," Matt mumbled reproachfully. "It wasn’t until he knew the train hadn’t arrived that he even bothered to let us know you’d gone out again. And I’m certain the only reason he told us then was because we found out pretty fast on our own once the civilian casualty report came in." 

"And yet here I am, breathing and well," Anna drawled before breaking into a yawn. "Breathing, and well, and too damn tired to keep arguing with you. Seriously, I’ve been up for almost 48 hours, and spent over a week on horseback, I think I’ve earned a night of sleep in a bed. Lance, I’ll write up everything I remember tomorrow. Natalie, I’ll check in with you first thing in the morning. Matt, you’d better bring me some breakfast as an apology for underestimating me, or I’m going to leave something unpleasant in your boots. Goodnight." 

And with that, the tired and grumpy ranger stood up, breaking away from Natalie's healing, and strode out the door. In the room behind her, Natalie let out a chuckle. 

"She'll be an even greater terror after this is over." The mage turned her gaze to Lance, and she hesitated before murmuring, "And she's right. We were out of line. I’m sorry, Lance, I know you didn't want her to get hurt. And I understand that you’re in an ugly position where all of us have to be considered as assets and not friends. I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I was... angry and hurting, but that was no excuse to hurt you, too." 

"I’m sorry for what I said, too, but I’m not sorry for getting angry," Matt added after a moment. He held Lance's gaze, still with an angry light in his own eyes. "She's our friend, too, and you had no right keeping from us the fact that you sent her into an incredibly dangerous situation where she could easily have gotten killed or captured. And you certainly had no right waiting to inform us that her mission had turned ugly, and likely fatal, until we came to confront you. What the hell possessed you to think holding back the information that Anna had died—true or not—was alright?" 

Lance's eyes remained fixed on the floor, and his jaw clenched. Finally, he admitted in a voice quiet with the remembered hollowness of grief, "I didn't want to believe it. Anna went out on my orders with my intel, and it got her killed. I’ve always known I was going to get you guys hurt—that's nothing new—but... But it's somehow just as bad that she survived, and the men I thought could be trusted with the task of escorting non-combatants to safety are the very reason things turned so ugly." He whipped around to stalk over to a table to lean on his hands and stare sightlessly down at numbers and placements and maps. "How the hell am I supposed to send her back behind enemy lines after this? She's the fastest, most effective weapon on our side, but one of these days she's not going to come back and you’re both right that it will be  all my fault ." 

"Lance, any one of us could get hurt or killed, but Anna's right that it  wouldn’t be your fault," Natalie pointed out bluntly. 

"You and Matt are at low risk. You have each other, and nothing will overcome your combo. I’m behind friendly lines all the time, coordinating; if I’m getting hurt, we've already lost," Lance refuted flatly. "Anna is typically weeks away from any kind of back up, and ducking into the center of enemy camps and compounds. She’s good, and beyond exceptionally skilled, but she's just one woman. And now her mana is damaged, and don’t try and tell me it'll be fine; the average recovery time for damaged mana paths is three months, and you know it. She'll try to head back out within the week, and if I refuse to give her a target, she'll go hunting for one under the frankly correct assumption that I’m too freaked out to let her out of camp. Gods, I just want this all to be  over . I’m tired." 

Matt and Natalie exchanged a look when Lance slammed a fist into the table hard enough to dent the metal. And for the first time in a while, they really looked at their friend. Lines of stress had etched themselves deep on Lance's face, and dark shadows seemed permanently smudged under his eyes. His shoulders were bowed and it was clear he'd lost weight. Finally, Matt stepped forwards to rest a hand on Lance's shoulder. 

"Come on, go get some sleep. I know you probably haven’t gotten much of any since Anna left. We can talk more in the morning. Maybe it’s time the team pulled out of this, finished or not." 

"Matt, you know we can’t do that," Lance dully refused. "We're the lynchpin. Greenwood is in their direct path, so you know Anna won’t leave, even if we choose to. And if we leave, this whole operation will collapse, and we'll be singing the praises of Godcat while watching our neighbors burn at the stake or in their beds by the time the year is up. I don’t know about you, but I’d sooner cut my tongue out than start singing hymns to that radioactive furball, actual goddess or not." 

"Save your arguments for tomorrow," Matt snorted, steering Lance out the door. He clapped a hand on the man's shoulder. "Go check in on Anna, it'll help you sleep, and then go to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a long one, and we'll have to go through who's been compromised on top of the usual bullshit." 

Lance considered arguing—he had about seven more pieces of intel he really should review—but ultimately, he left without complaining. It had been nearly a week since he'd last actually gone to bed, and longer since he'd slept more an hour at a time. He mumbled a goodnight to his friends, and made his way towards his own room, determined to not bother Anna, who was as tired as he was, if not more so from being out in the field. It only took a half an hour to find himself standing outside the ranger's door, berating himself. 

Disgusted at his own neediness and predictability—Matt clearly knew him too well—Lance raised a hand to hesitantly knock on the door. Anna's muffled voice called him through, and he entered to see her seated on the bed, pulling a brush through her wet hair. She didn’t seem surprised to see him in the slightest, and merely jerked her head to indicate the sole chair in the room by the small desk. A plate of food waited there beside a half completed report. 

"You could have eaten first," Lance pointed out tiredly even as he idly gathered up the paper to glance across it. 

Anna snorted with a faint grin. "I did eat. That plate is for you. I knew you’d be by sooner rather than later." 

"You all know me too well," Lance grumbled under his breath. 

Despite his outward appearance to the contrary, he couldn’t help the flare of warmth in his chest for their care. He picked up the simple sandwich and took a bite, feeling himself relax in the presence of such a familiar and simple act as Anna getting ready for bed. It had been way too long since the team had been in the field and he could enjoy the sense of peace and belonging on a regular basis. 

"Did you inform the units stationed at Stone Orchard or one of the Canyon outposts about the Sunder Gorge being blocked?" he asked after eating half of the sandwich and picking at the sliced fruit. 

"No, I wasn’t sure how many people might actually be working for the enemy, and I didn’t want to risk someone following me while I couldn’t use magic for anything more than tracking," Anna replied in a distracted tone while she braided her hair for bed. She flicked the damp tail over her shoulder and brought her feet up onto the mattress to sit cross-legged before fixing an apologetic look on Lance. "I’m sorry I didn’t send word as soon as I could like I said I would. And for not making it back in perfect health." 

Lance set the report down with a long sigh. "Honestly, Anna, I’d rather worry about you and have you make it back late, than have you risk yourself to contact us and get killed for it. You made the right call." 

"Did I really?" Anna wondered quietly. She let her gaze wander to the door, but didn’t elaborate until Lance made a questioning noise. "It's just... Matt. And Natalie, too, I guess. I’ve seen them mad at you before, but never to the point where they'd physically assault you. What would have happened if I’d come back a day later? Or not at all? Matt was furious enough to withdraw his support, and you and I both know Natalie follows him. Maybe you would have stayed—especially if you thought they didn’t want you around anymore—but you can’t tell me you’d be as effective as you have been. I didn’t think they’d react so badly about what happened after so long of me being behind enemy lines. I mean, realistically, escorting the train was significantly less dangerous than what I’m usually doing; if they're going to get so upset anytime something happens to me under your orders, then me going out is a lot riskier than I thought." 

Lance remained silent, unable to deny Anna's suspicions and reasonings. He hadn't yet gotten to the point in his fight with Matt earlier to worry about the ramifications of his actions, but Anna painted an eerily accurate picture of what likely would have happened. If she'd come back a day later, or even an hour, Matt and Natalie might have already stormed off. Sure, Anna would have tracked them down within the day, magic or not, and ripped into them with all the righteous fury she contained, and they likely would have come back, cowed and apologetic. In that scenario, however, he couldn’t see himself being able to make the calculated risks and moves he'd been doing to great effect—not while worrying that he'd lose everything he valued. And if she hadn’t come back at all, would he even still be trying? Would he even want to bother with anything? He uneasily shoved the thought away again to focus on the things that mattered, like the fact that Anna had returned safe and sound despite all his worst fears. 

"I don’t know what to do about it," he finally admitted quietly. "You’re not going to be cleared to go out into the field until your magic is back to one hundred percent, anyway. That gives us a buffer, at least." 

"That kicks the problem down the road, you mean." Anna's words were full of reproach, and she'd turned a flat look back on Lance. "I'm not going to argue the bed rest—Natalie would ream me if I even so much as suggested heading back out into the field—but it's naive to think either of our friends are going to just forget this whole mess ever happened in just a few weeks." 

"You’re right, you're right," Lance agreed through a heavy exhale. He ran a tired hand through his hair and scowled at Anna, though not really mad at her. "Though I still don’t know what you expect me to do about them being over protective. They aren’t... like me. They can’t look past the emotion of a situation to weigh every aspect of a scenario and choose the best solution, regardless of cost." 

"No, they aren’t. Being cool and level headed under stress is your gig—and mine, I guess, but mostly yours—and I wouldn’t want to change that about them," Anna agreed calmly. "But they can be convinced to at least not completely melt down if something goes wrong. I’m not going to sit on my hands and hum when I could be helpful; I’m certainly not going to let them get away with abandoning you if something happens to me. And you can bet that I'm going to beat those points into them so hard they'll be having nightmares about my anger for weeks." 

Lance's lips twitched into a smile. "You're as crazy as ever," he noted with fond warmth. He studied Anna for a long moment before his smile shifted ever so slightly into a mischievous grin. "I think I know what we'll have you do next." 

"Does it involve smacking sense into the other two?" Anna asked with a grin of her own. 

"You can handle them however you want," Lance promised in an amused tone. "We need to know if my immediate officers are compromised—particularly, I’d like you to focus on the two men in charge of the squad I sent with the train, and whoever they might be connected to. This won’t require you to leave the compound, short of a suspect fleeing, in which case I'll send Matt to drag them back by their hair. To help expedite this investigation, I’ll loan Matt, and Natalie whenever she's free, to you. We're between skirmishes until the rains let up a little, anyway." 

Anna’s grin stretched a little wider. "I get them as minions?" 

"You get them as minions—yours to terrify to your heart's content." 

"Tomorrow is going to be a  great day," Anna predicted with relish. Her smile returned to something softer and more caring, and she inclined her head towards the door. "Go get some sleep, Lance, and I'll do the same. You and I both need it." 

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Lance sighed, shifting to his feet with a long sigh. He padded silently towards the door, but paused before actually leaving to look back. "Thanks, for making it back." 

Anna blinked twice at him before breaking into a broad smile. "I always make it back. You can’t get rid of me that easily."


End file.
